5 ms·

Another one of those threads that causes intense navel-gazing, shame, and mounting disgust in my gut for myself as I realize that everyone around me is working

by PakG1 8y ago

Another one of those threads that causes intense navel-gazing, shame, and mounting disgust in my gut for myself as I realize that everyone around me is working hard to better themselves while I just binge-watch movies.... and then my eyes glaze over as I mollify myself with the movies until I forget that this thread exists.

golergka 8y ago
Good movies are nothing to be ashamed of. While you may not be learning new facts about science and tech, you're interacting with different emotional models and stories depicting human interactions. Awhile ago I saw research confirming the link between watching a lot of movies and increase in emotional intellect (same people, over time), but I can't google it up now.
- skoocda 8y ago
  This paper, perchance? [0] [0] https://www.researchgate.net/publication/282328265_Fiction_and_Social_Cognition_The_Effect_of_Viewing_Award-Winning_Television_Dramas_on_Theory_of_Mind https://www.researchgate.net/publication/282328265_Fiction_a...
sotojuan 8y ago
A bit cynical, but my guess is the vast majority of people forcing themselves to consume productive media are not retaining anything and just don't want to feel like they're wasting time. And as the sibling comment said, nothing wrong with a good movie. Enjoy your life.
- sridca 8y ago
  This. Curiosity should be the driving factor, not a moral injunction on oneself.
byebyetech 8y ago
Life is short, enjoy your time watching movies. I have wasted a lot of time being busy (reading non-fiction, TED talks etc) that did not translate into any noticeable self improvement or progress in my life. I have feeling a lot of people makes that mistake too.
- goostavos 8y ago
  >did not translate into any noticeable self improvement I've thought about this topic often, and I bounce around on where I stand on it (unsure if I'm just being pedantic or something). I'm currently of the mind that infotainment like (early) ted talks, a large subset of conference talks, and all "Smarter Every Day"-like Youtube channels are overall no better than general trash entertainment. With general entertainment, you know what it is and self-limit, whereas the former present themselves as a valuable use of your time, and often make you _feel_ like your doing something "good" (I'm learning!), but the actual take away is often at best a factiod that you still couldn't even talk about in any depth.
- JadeNB 8y ago
  > Life is short, enjoy your time watching movies. I have wasted a lot of time being busy (reading non-fiction, TED talks etc) that did not translate into any noticeable self improvement or progress in my life. I have feeling a lot of people makes that mistake too. I'm not sure that I agree that it is a 'mistake' to read non-fiction even if it doesn't explicitly translate into self-improvement or progress. If you enjoy reading non-fiction, then why can't it be an end in itself just like watching movies can be? (I don't like TED talks, so I won't comment on those, but I would make the same argument if you do.)
- coldtea 8y ago
  >Life is short, enjoy your time watching movies. That's all well, but let's don't forget the opportunity cost. One can enjoy anything, e.g. food, but then they get to 300 lbs and they look back, and say wtf did I let this happen? So enjoyment alone is not a safe criterion... >I have wasted a lot of time being busy (reading non-fiction, TED talks etc) that did not translate into any noticeable self improvement or progress in my life. I have feeling a lot of people makes that mistake too. That's a valid point though. There's even a name for it "productivity porn".
  - PakG1 8y ago
    I'm being that pedantic guy now, but I think you misunderstand opportunity cost. The opportunity cost of eating food wouldn't be the negative consequences of eating food. Rather, it would be the negative consequences of not doing something else that you would have done if you hadn't been eating the food. The easiest example is that the opportunity cost of going to university is 4 years of steady income. But students believe its worth it because the future income they'd receive instead is hopefully more than worth the opportunity cost.
wilsonnb2 8y ago
I feel the same way. I've been getting better, though, and I don't mean getting better by reading more technical literature, listening to more podcasts, and doing more programming in my free time. Instead I mean accepting the fact that I simply don't enjoy those things and the way forward is to let go of the shame I feel for not liking them. There are plenty of things I do want to do in my free time, and I'm going to do those things. Every once in a while that thing is reading something technical or writing a program. In fact, I find that I enjoy those things more often when I'm not trying to force myself to do them. I used to have quite a large stack of technical books I bought and then never read. Now the local Goodwill has them. Hopefully the next owner is someone who actually enjoys them.
bjelkeman-again 8y ago
Don’t feel bad. I grab a few seasons of the Expanse and just enjoy the binge watch. Even the third time.
drharby 8y ago
Eh - time enjoyed is time well spent. No guilt necessary in a difficult and cruel world. Like Franky says, relax. Or write the next mad max. You could do that too
sjbase 8y ago
Don't forget that we all tend to show a heavily curated version of ourselves on social media (and HN is absolutely social media) [1]. What you've done with this comment is refreshing: you've overcome the enormous pressure to be the best version of yourself online. Well done! 1: https://www.ajpmonline.org/article/S0749-3797(17)30016-8/fulltext https://www.ajpmonline.org/article/S0749-3797(17)30016-8/ful...
Pxtl 8y ago
Honestly, if I try to do anything mentally taxing on a flight I get terrible headaches. Low oxygen environments are not a place for brainwork.
eddieroger 8y ago
I've always just read this as people on Hacker News feel more compelled than I do to be productive all the time. I have a corporate gig, and need to be my most productive self during work hours (he said, while commenting on HN during work hours), so I'm not as hard on myself outside of work. Maybe if I had a different mentality I could create the next Facebook or Uber or who knows what, but honestly I'm pretty happy as is. Don't have shame, friend. You are who you are. Better yourself by being a well rounded, nice person, not by spending all your free time reading books or watching TED talks.
AlexCoventry 8y ago
Watching videos can only help you develop a superficial understanding, anyway. A superficial understanding is a good place to start, but videos have usually been a form of procrastination for me, even when the content's been ostensibly serious.
qume 8y ago
I cant stress this enough: flights are a great opportunity for mental down time. The only mental down time I ever seems to get at least. Savour it. Value it.

by PakG1 8y ago

golergka 8y ago

Good movies are nothing to be ashamed of. While you may not be learning new facts about science and tech, you're interacting with different emotional models and stories depicting human interactions. Awhile ago I saw research confirming the link between watching a lot of movies and increase in emotional intellect (same people, over time), but I can't google it up now.

skoocda 8y ago
This paper, perchance? [0] [0] https://www.researchgate.net/publication/282328265_Fiction_and_Social_Cognition_The_Effect_of_Viewing_Award-Winning_Television_Dramas_on_Theory_of_Mind https://www.researchgate.net/publication/282328265_Fiction_a...

sotojuan 8y ago

A bit cynical, but my guess is the vast majority of people forcing themselves to consume productive media are not retaining anything and just don't want to feel like they're wasting time. And as the sibling comment said, nothing wrong with a good movie. Enjoy your life.

sridca 8y ago
This. Curiosity should be the driving factor, not a moral injunction on oneself.

byebyetech 8y ago

Life is short, enjoy your time watching movies. I have wasted a lot of time being busy (reading non-fiction, TED talks etc) that did not translate into any noticeable self improvement or progress in my life. I have feeling a lot of people makes that mistake too.

goostavos 8y ago
>did not translate into any noticeable self improvement I've thought about this topic often, and I bounce around on where I stand on it (unsure if I'm just being pedantic or something). I'm currently of the mind that infotainment like (early) ted talks, a large subset of conference talks, and all "Smarter Every Day"-like Youtube channels are overall no better than general trash entertainment. With general entertainment, you know what it is and self-limit, whereas the former present themselves as a valuable use of your time, and often make you _feel_ like your doing something "good" (I'm learning!), but the actual take away is often at best a factiod that you still couldn't even talk about in any depth.
JadeNB 8y ago
> Life is short, enjoy your time watching movies. I have wasted a lot of time being busy (reading non-fiction, TED talks etc) that did not translate into any noticeable self improvement or progress in my life. I have feeling a lot of people makes that mistake too. I'm not sure that I agree that it is a 'mistake' to read non-fiction even if it doesn't explicitly translate into self-improvement or progress. If you enjoy reading non-fiction, then why can't it be an end in itself just like watching movies can be? (I don't like TED talks, so I won't comment on those, but I would make the same argument if you do.)
coldtea 8y ago
>Life is short, enjoy your time watching movies. That's all well, but let's don't forget the opportunity cost. One can enjoy anything, e.g. food, but then they get to 300 lbs and they look back, and say wtf did I let this happen? So enjoyment alone is not a safe criterion... >I have wasted a lot of time being busy (reading non-fiction, TED talks etc) that did not translate into any noticeable self improvement or progress in my life. I have feeling a lot of people makes that mistake too. That's a valid point though. There's even a name for it "productivity porn".
- PakG1 8y ago
  I'm being that pedantic guy now, but I think you misunderstand opportunity cost. The opportunity cost of eating food wouldn't be the negative consequences of eating food. Rather, it would be the negative consequences of not doing something else that you would have done if you hadn't been eating the food. The easiest example is that the opportunity cost of going to university is 4 years of steady income. But students believe its worth it because the future income they'd receive instead is hopefully more than worth the opportunity cost.

wilsonnb2 8y ago

I feel the same way. I've been getting better, though, and I don't mean getting better by reading more technical literature, listening to more podcasts, and doing more programming in my free time. Instead I mean accepting the fact that I simply don't enjoy those things and the way forward is to let go of the shame I feel for not liking them. There are plenty of things I do want to do in my free time, and I'm going to do those things. Every once in a while that thing is reading something technical or writing a program. In fact, I find that I enjoy those things more often when I'm not trying to force myself to do them. I used to have quite a large stack of technical books I bought and then never read. Now the local Goodwill has them. Hopefully the next owner is someone who actually enjoys them.

bjelkeman-again 8y ago

Don’t feel bad. I grab a few seasons of the Expanse and just enjoy the binge watch. Even the third time.

drharby 8y ago

Eh - time enjoyed is time well spent. No guilt necessary in a difficult and cruel world. Like Franky says, relax. Or write the next mad max. You could do that too

sjbase 8y ago

Don't forget that we all tend to show a heavily curated version of ourselves on social media (and HN is absolutely social media) [1]. What you've done with this comment is refreshing: you've overcome the enormous pressure to be the best version of yourself online. Well done! 1: https://www.ajpmonline.org/article/S0749-3797(17)30016-8/fulltext https://www.ajpmonline.org/article/S0749-3797(17)30016-8/ful...

Pxtl 8y ago

Honestly, if I try to do anything mentally taxing on a flight I get terrible headaches. Low oxygen environments are not a place for brainwork.

eddieroger 8y ago

I've always just read this as people on Hacker News feel more compelled than I do to be productive all the time. I have a corporate gig, and need to be my most productive self during work hours (he said, while commenting on HN during work hours), so I'm not as hard on myself outside of work. Maybe if I had a different mentality I could create the next Facebook or Uber or who knows what, but honestly I'm pretty happy as is. Don't have shame, friend. You are who you are. Better yourself by being a well rounded, nice person, not by spending all your free time reading books or watching TED talks.

AlexCoventry 8y ago

Watching videos can only help you develop a superficial understanding, anyway. A superficial understanding is a good place to start, but videos have usually been a form of procrastination for me, even when the content's been ostensibly serious.

qume 8y ago

I cant stress this enough: flights are a great opportunity for mental down time. The only mental down time I ever seems to get at least. Savour it. Value it.